In the halls of hogwarts
by marrissa gnokawitz
Summary: When the full moon approaches and Lily  must go on patrol alone James as always takes advantage of the situation and follows her.In doing so he sees just how fragile, and how strong Lily Evans can be. And they both realize the darkness thats  slowly surrounding them in hogwarts. #


_**N/A my gooooooneeeeesssss this idea would not leave me alone! My take on James and Lily's first kiss! Enjoy! And I promise its different then the rest! Well that's sort of obvious I'm writing it….. **_

"My god, man! Just give her up already!" Sirius groaned dramatically after looking up from his Defense Against The Dark Arts text book to see James's eyes fallowing Lily as she strode past, refusing to notice them. James, however, ignored him and simply grinned to himself.

" Y'know, Padfoot, it just so happens, I was just thinking about taking a stroll around the grounds before it gets dark. Care to join me?" he asked mischievously. Sirius sighed.

"You're not fooling anyone, mate! You know just as well as I do, that with the full moon coming up Lily will have to patrol on her own tonight." Sirius chuckled, looking back to his book. "I personally am not in the mood to follow Evans around all night." James rolled his eyes, stood up, and walked to the door.

"I don't have the slightest idea as to what you're talking about Padfoot." He whispered happily to Sirius as he left. Sirius smiled and put his feet up on the coffee table in front of him.

"He'll never learn." He mumbled too himself.

As James followed the click of her shoes down the dark corridor he began thinking about what Sirius had said. _Now how could he possibly believe I could give her up? _He thought smiling. _If I did I would have nothing to think about besides quidditch! _He chuckled to himself at the thought of how his friends were always claiming that Lily and quidditch were all he cared about.

He suddenly paused realizing that the clicking had stopped. He looked up too see the girl on his thoughts staring out one of the many large windows that looked out over one of the many courtyards of Hogwarts. He smiled again and quietly walked right up to stand beside her.

"Enjoying your favorite pass time Potter?" She asked. He was a little caught off guard at the fact that she was speaking to him but he simply smirked and answered her.

"It doesn't feel like I'm playing quidditch." He replied. She smiled slightly to herself. He let out a big celebratory "Yes!" in his mind. He had actually gotten a smile out of her!

"I _meant_ following me around Potter," She said still not looking at him, but he saw the small smile she had tried to hide when she said it. "Sorry it hasn't been very exciting tonight. Maybe next time Remus gets sick you'll get to watch me lecture first years." She added sarcastically. One of the things that always surprised him was how she always knew everything he did. He sighed.

"You always know." He whispered. She just rolled her eyes.

"You have loud shoes."

"But how do you know it's always been me?" he asked her his smirk appearing again. She turned to him a look of pure annoyance on her face.

"Who _else_ would be following me around at night?" She said coldly. "Not to mention the fact that I can hear Sirius complaining every time you drag him along." Her face was like it always was around him, a delicate mixture of annoyed, sarcastic, mad, and impatient. Clearly expressing that she was hoping he would just leave. He didn't.

"How come you never said anything?" He asked calmly leaning on the window sill. She sighed impatiently.

"Like it would make a difference! When have you ever listened to me Potter?" He tapped his pointer finger to his chin in thought. She turned away from him again and leaned against the wall.

"That wouldn't be as much fun. Would it Evans?" He asked her. She sighed again.

"It would certainly be more fun for me!" She mumbled. She turned to him for a moment to glare daggers at him. Then she began to walk down the corridor. Hearing his shoes following her, she walked faster.

Soon, however, his steps matched hers and they were walking side by side. She gave up and slowed down a bit, but still refused to look at him. "Why must you always be so persistent Potter?" She asked him after a few moments of relative silence, still looking ahead.

"It's just one of the many things to love about me Evans." He replied grinning. She stopped and turned towards him to say something. But whatever it was, she never got the chance to tell him.

A bright red glow burst suddenly from a nearby corridor. Down the hall they heard loud laughter moments after. Not the kind of laughter that makes you know something funny happened, the kind that lets you know something really awful has. Lily right away turned and walked briskly in the direction of the laughter, picking up speed as she rounded the corner. By the time James had her in sight again she was almost running. She was so fast he gave up trying to catch up with her quickly, and just walked, slowly watching it all from a distance.

The laughter had been coming from four young boys. All in their fourth year, all Slytherien. They were no match for Lily.

Just as one of them lifted his wand to perform the curse again she lashed out her own.

" Expeliarmis!" she shouted, her voice taking on the volume and the power of thunder. The wand immediately shot out of the boy's hand and fell to the floor several feet away from him. As she approached, all of the boys looked at her with fear showing in their eyes. All but the one who had been holding the wand. He simply scowled at her.

"How dare you! You filthy little..." he started to say but Lily lifted her wand again.

"Petrificus-totalas!" She shouted with the same power as before. James was a little afraid himself. He had never seen her so angry, even at him. As the boy fell to the ground she dropped to her knees. James, who had been standing about twelve feet away, rushed over to her. The other boys, full of worry themselves, leaned over their leader.

When James looked at her he realized she was holding something. She was now cradling, what appeared to be, a large, black, shaking, ball of fur. She was whispering to it, telling it that all the pain was over. That it was going to be alright. He was immensely confused.

"What were they…?" he started to ask but she cut him off.

"Crucio," she whispered grimly. She stood slowly, shaking a little. Just as James reached out to help her up she pushed him away.

"CRUCIO?" She yelled at the boys. They stared up at her terrified. "You horrible, evil, cruel, little… _monsters_!" she cried.

There were tears streaming down her face. "A perfectly innocent little black cat." She whispered. "You…your….To do such a thing to an innocent creature! An **innocent creature**!" She started to shake again; she looked down, having nothing else to say. Her face in buried the animal's thick dark fur.

James looked at the boys. He didn't know what to say. He knew there were followers of the dark lord at Hogwarts but he didn't know that some would actually take their evil into to the halls of the school.

Footsteps echoed down the hall and everyone but Lily looked up to see Dumbledore striding down the hall towards them.

Once he reached them, he looked at the petrified boy on the floor and then at Lily. He went to her and put his hand on her shoulder not saying a word. She looked up slowly, tears still streaming down her cheeks. She whispered something to him sobbing and he nodded calmly. He looked down at the animal in her arms and then looked back at the boys once more.

"I sincerely hope that what Ms. Evans has told me is untrue," He said breaking the tense silence that had enveloped the entire corridor. "But judging by the condition of this poor creature it seems that is doubtful." He put his arm around Lily's shoulders and began to walk her down the hall way. "I would like all of you to please follow me to my office. Mr. Potter, I would like you to make sure they do." He turned around for a brief moment and unpetrified the boy lying on the ground and proceeded to walk down the hall whispering kind reassuring words to Lily much like she had done with the cat. She sobbed quietly; he then whispered to the cat helping her to comfort it.

James held his wand up threateningly and shepherded the boys down after the headmaster. The leader grumbled to him a few times but otherwise it was a totally silent walk. When they finally reached the statue, Dumbledore told James to accompany Lily to the hospital wing where someone might be able to help the cat. He nodded grimly and went over to her.

He put his hand on Lily's shoulder and turned back once to watch the boys follow Dumbledore up the steps with their heads bowed in shame, and, he hoped, grief and regret as well.

Lily let James keep his hand on her shoulder, much to his surprise. It was like he wasn't there at all. She just kept stroking and cooing to the cat which was no longer shaking and a lot more comfortable. When they reached the hospital wing she walked over to a rather confused nurse and explained what had happened.

He remained outside the door in the corridor and waited for her. She stepped out a few minutes later and looked up at him silently.

"Well?" He asked after a moment. She gave him a half smile.

"It seems I've got myself a cat." She told him. His eyes opened wide.

" Wha..?"

"It seems that she's just a stray that managed to end up on the grounds, and had probably just somehow gotten into the school and had been wandering around when they found her. The nurse I talked to said it would be pointless to save a stray because it would just be put out into the world damaged by the experience it had, so I told her I would take care of her." She sighed and slid to the floor.

James sat next to her and took her hand in his. She didn't resist and just stared at the wall in front of them.

"They're to be expelled of course, Dumbledore told me he hoped that You-know-who hadn't grown powerful enough to effect his students to do such a thing. But we both knew that things will only get worse." James didn't say anything. He thought about it all sadly, the war, the fourth year Slytherien boys, the cat. He didn't know how to respond so he just continued to watch her as she continued to talk.

" He told me something interesting then." Her eyes glittered suddenly. She turned to face him. " He said you can find happiness in the darkest of times, if one just remembers to turn on the light." James smiled.

"He's right you know." James said squeezing her hand slightly. She nodded and turned away, thinking to herself about it for a few moments. Then, suddenly she leaned over and kissed him.

James's heart exploded. He wasn't sure what to feel. He was, of course, amazingly happy and kissed back, but he was also a bit confused, not to mention very, very, surprised. It didn't last long though. She pulled away suddenly and ended it as fast as she had started it.

"I'm sorry; I don't know why in the world I did that." She said quietly. James was still a bit stunned and just nodded barely managing to get out, "It's fine." She released his hand and stood. He did the same. They stood in silence for what felt like eternity, and then she spoke.

"I just want to forget this whole night; pretend none of it ever happened, okay, Potter?" She asked him first looking at the ground then at him. He gave her his signature smirk.

"Even that last part?" He asked. She glared at him.

"Especially that last part," She said rolling her eyes. He grinned. Normal Lily was back again.

They walked back to the Gryffindor tower _separately_,as it would be hard to explain to whoever might be in the common room what they, of all people, were doing together so late at night roaming the castle. James walked right up to his dorm and fell face first onto his bed.

"Anything interesting happen, mate?" asked Sirius from his bed across from James's. Right when he was about to tell his friend all about it, he reminded himself of the promise he had made and quickly stopped himself. He just lifted is head slightly, looked at his friend, and smiled.

"Nope, nothing special, nothing special at all Padfoot." Sirius could tell his friend was hiding something but he simply rolled his eyes and turned back to a book he was looking at. _If it's a secret of Prongs I definitely don't want to know!_ He thought.

_**N/A I actually almost cried writing this! Congrats and thank you so much if you read this all! Its funny, sad and serious and amusing! If you cried I hope at certain parts you smiled through your tears! Reviews are ever so much appreciated!**_

_**Edit: ok so I exaggerated the sadness. When it comes to writing I am overly emotional! I love how this turned out and I am so glad I took the time to go back and edit and improve this! Out of everything I've written, fanfic or not this is one of my favorites.**_


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